There are only 11 days left in 2010—less than 2 weeks. So what can you do in these last 11 days that will make a difference in 2011? Let me suggest a variation of Stephen Covey’s Habit #2 (Begin With The End In Mind from The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People):
End 2010 With The End Of 2011 In Mind
What are three things you want to be different—in your personal life, in your family, in your organization—by the end of 2011? Three things that if accomplished will make 2011 not just a good year, but a great year! Take your time. Don’t be too quick to choose. You have 11 days before 2011 is here, so give some serious thought to this. Take these steps:
Enjoy the holidays! Celebrate the birth of Christ! Spend time with friends and family! But also, take some time to End With The End In Mind. This time next year you’ll be glad you did.
Wise men still follow Him. Merry Christmas!
Driving home from Indiana a few days ago (cruising along at about 75mph on I65), I was passed by a Toyota Prius running about 80mph. A Prius is a gasoline-electric hybrid that is known more for its gas mileage (50mph) than for its power (1.8L, 98hp) and speed.
However, this Prius was different—it had a rear spoiler—just like Jimmie Johnson’s #48 NASCAR Chevrolet. Even though it passed me, I’m sure it couldn’t pass Jimmie Johnson because a Prius—with or without a spoiler—is still just a Prius and is not ready for NASCAR.
A spoiler may make a Prius look racy, but it doesn’t make it a race car. It is what’s under the hood that counts.
In the same way, a title doesn’t make you a leader. A position and big office doesn’t make you a leader. Being the owner, or CEO, or Lead Pastor doesn’t make you a leader. Dressing like a leader; talking like a leader; acting like a leader; none of these make you a leader.
Having trouble getting people to follow you even though you have the title and the office? Maybe you are relying too much on your rear spoiler instead of what’s under the hood. Ask someone you trust—they’ll tell you.
In his book, Don’t Step On The Rope!, Walter Wright uses lessons from his mountain climbing experiences to share leadership principles. He uses the “rope” between climbers as a metaphor for the connection between leaders and followers: “The rope is the relationship between the leader and follower.”
In mountain climbing, the rope is critical. If it is too tight, one of the climbers is always pulling against the other—neither can move freely. So it needs to have some slack, but not too much slack. If there is too much slack, the following climber can step on the rope causing it to suddenly tighten and pull the lead climber off balance. Either of the climbers off balance is a danger to both since they are connected by the rope. But even worse, since climber’s boots have metal cleats, stepping on the rope can damage it. A frayed rope under tension can quickly unravel putting both climbers in peril.
The parallel to leadership is obvious. The relationship between leaders and followers must have some slack, but not so much that someone can step on the relationship and damage it. And also, the relationship can’t be so tightly held that no one can move freely. The leader and the follower share the responsibility for the condition of the rope—the connection between them. Whichever you are, do your part!
[Don’t Step On The Rope! is a creative and stimulating book that I highly recommend.]
I hate Bermuda grass. Why? It spreads uncontrolled into our mulch and hides the underground nests of fire ants. How many stings did I get? Twenty-six! Did they hurt? Yes! Did I get revenge? Yes! (Using Bonide MAX.) And while I was at it, I poured out my wrath on an underground nest of yellow jackets before they stung me.
Organizations have underground nests that can sting as well—nests that have a different mission…or personal agendas…or are only concerned about their self-interests. As the leader, you cannot let these nests grow and thrive. In fact, you need to pour Bonide MAX on them ASAP or you will get stung and the organization hurt.
First, make sure the underground nest doesn’t exist because of your ineffective leadership. Sometimes nests develop because the workers are simply trying to survive and have no confidence in the leader to actually lead them. So they choose a queen to follow and go underground as a survival mechanism. As in all things, always start with self-examination. Not sure if you’re the problem? Ask someone who will tell you the truth.
Second, you have to get rid of the queen. All fire ant and yellow jacket nests have a queen at the center of everything. Your organizational underground nest will have one too. Whatever you have to do, get rid of the queen! Until you do, the nest will grow in size and continue to buzz around stinging everyone that is not part of the nest.
Third, you need the workers, so try to eradicate the nest without eradicating all the workers. Give them a reason to choose to follow you instead of the queen. Being a leader instead of boss is a good way to start.
Enough fire ants stings can be fatal to small animals. Underground nests in your organization can be fatal too. So ignore them at your and the organization’s peril.
Only 24 days until Raising The Level Of Your Leadership—a Hard Lessons workshop. Sign up today at www.hard-lessons.com.
In last week’s post, I wrote about the five dimensions of passion you need to lead a group of followers on a long and difficult journey of significant change. You need passion for the mission (the journey and destination), passion for change, passion for people, passion for personal excellence, and if you are a person of faith, passion for honoring God.
Today, let me mention a few faux passions that aren’t necessary for leadership and in some cases make it harder or impossible to lead.
Faux Passion #1: Sentiment. When you were a little boy or girl, there was always, “When I grow up I’m going to be a….” My boyhood dream was to be a cowboy. (Duh! I grew up in Oklahoma.) Or a baseball player. (Duh! Mickey Mantle was from Oklahoma.) I have a daughter who wanted to be a missionary or a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader—she’s an actress. Neither one of us have regrets that our childhood dreams were not realized as adults. So in spite of what your therapist may say, childhood dreams are not always the answer to adult fulfillment or passion for leading.
Faux Passion #2: Loving The Task. It is great if you love the product or program, but you don’t have to love it to lead it, and often you won’t. Louis Gerstner, Jr., left RJR Nabisco (cigarettes and Oreos) in 1993 to become CEO of IBM (mainframe computers). Do you think he loved computers more than Oreos? I suspect he didn’t love either one. But he did have passion for leading—for “trying to build organizations that allow for hierarchy but at the same time bring people together for problem solving, regardless of where they are positioned in the organization.” Now that’s passion for the mission and leaders have to have it! (Quote from Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? by Gerstner; a great read for leaders.)
Faux Passion #3: Emotion. I am sick and tired of people rationalizing angry, emotional, people-hurting outbursts with, “I’m just so passionate.” Emotions and passions are not the same thing.
Emotions explode; passion burns steadily.
Emotions are here today, gone tomorrow; passion sticks around.
Emotions can turn and walk away; passion has to do something.
Emotions are about self; passion is about something important apart from self.
Emotions rage; passion reasons.
It may be a convenient excuse to explain bad emotional behavior as passion, but it’s not true and it will hurt your ability to lead—every time.
I would be interested in your ideas on Faux Passions you’ve observed. Also, don’t forget to register for the November 5th Hard Lessons Workshop on the homepage. I look forward to seeing you there!
At the 2010 Willow Creek Leadership Summit, one of the sub-themes was, “I will stop using anger as a leadership tool.”
Though I have seldom used anger as a tool in the workplace, I have used it at home. My wife once told me she was tired of walking on egg shells, meaning “I’m tired of your anger.” I’m sure my two daughters have also been on the receiving end. I can’t think of a time when anything good came out of one of my outbursts.
Anger supposedly demonstrates who is in control. What it really reveals is who is out of control.
Anger supposedly will promote change in behavior. What it really promotes is pervasive fear that paralyzes the organization.
Anger supposedly shows strength of position. What it really shows is weakness of character.
Anger supposedly reinforces “I’m right.” What it really reinforces is “I’m proud.”
It is interesting that in scripture, God puts anger in the same list of sins as immorality, idolatry, sorcery, drunkenness.…
Galatians 5:19-21 (NASB95)
“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity,
sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger,
disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing.…”
That’s enough said about how God feels about it.
Anger rarely if ever accomplishes anything good. It may accomplish what you intend, but only if your purpose is self-centered and intended to inflict humiliation and pain. Anger always has the effect of damaging relationships—at home, in the church, at your workplace. So take to heart the Summit sub-theme. Resolve today that you will stop using anger as a leadership tool. You’ll be a much better leader.
By the way, don’t kid yourself that “forgive me” will erase the effects of repeated outbursts. “Forgive me” only works if it doesn’t happen again.
[There are only two months until the November 5th Hard Lessons Workshop. Sign up today on the home page.]
Failed change is more common than successful change in people and in organizations. Change is hard to initiate and even harder to finish. Why? Change myths are part of the reason.
Myth #1: People and organizations change when they need to. Really? Why are so many people overweight? I need to lose about ten pounds. I’ve needed to for a long time. But I haven’t made the changes necessary to lose it. Some people need to stop piling up debt—but they don’t. Organizations have a lot of changes they need to make. But for whatever reason, they don’t get around to it, or when they try, it fizzles out. It takes a lot more than need to drive successful change.
Myth #2: People and organizations change when they want to. Not only do I need to lose those ten pounds, but I want to. Enough said?
Myth #3: Fear is an effective means of promoting change. “If you don’t….., you’ll be fired.” What a waste of time. Any change that arises from fear will be short-lived and marginal. It is a sign that bosses and bullies are in charge, not authentic leaders.
Myth #4: A PowerPoint presentation which fully explains the reason will successfully drive change. “If they understand, they’ll be eager to change.” Baloney. Somebody else will be giving reasons for not changing. And what about all the right brain artists out there? They hate PowerPoint presentations.
Myth #5: Casting vision over and over will bring change. This is just hubris on the part of the leader—believing that people will do whatever he/she asks them to do. People and organizations do not change because of somebody else’s vision.
So what will initiate and sustain change? Two things: people and organizations attempt change when they have to, or when they are inspired to. The leader’s job is to inspire it before the “have to” kicks in. Think about it.
It is easier to get married than to stay married. And it is easier to start change than it is to complete it. The leader’s biggest challenge is between the starting point and the finish line. We’ll talk about the entire change journey at the November 5 Hard Lessons Workshop in the AVOIDING CHANGE WRECK session. Register on the home page!
Leadership is hard. One of the things that makes it hard is there are No Bad Days Allowed.
The leader has to show up ready to lead no matter what. Flat tires aren’t an excuse. Lack of sleep is not an excuse. PMS or menopause are not excuses. Thirty over par on Saturday is not an excuse. The Titans losing on Sunday is not an excuse. And yeah, I really do mean every day—on top of your game—ready to lead in a positive way.
Consistency is an important attribute for effective leaders. Your followers need to know what to expect when you show up. If they don’t—if it is everything is great on Tuesday, but stay away on Thursday—fear and reluctance will become pervasive in the organization. Followers will spend too much time deciding if it is okay to approach you and the information you need today may not make it to your office because they are waiting for the safe time. The safe time may be too late.
So, this means that leaders have to do something that is really hard to do, leave emotions in the car—especially anger, impatience, frustration, inattention, etc. Hard to do? Yes. Impossible? No. If you need to rant and rave and throw up, do it before you show up at the office.
Remember, there are no bad days allowed for leaders. What’s at stake? Not much—just your credibility and effectiveness as a leader.
Who is the hardest person you have ever tried to lead? No matter how hard you tried, nothing worked—he or she just wouldn’t follow your lead. You read all the John Maxwell books, went to leadership seminars, and sought advice from the VP of Human Resources (who is supposed to know what to do). It was frustrating, exhausting and discouraging.
Do you have a name or two coming to mind? I do. One of them is my own, Dick Wells.
Bill George in True North says, “the hardest person you will ever have to lead is yourself.” He is right. How can you expect to lead others if you can’t lead yourself? If your life is out of control, without self-discipline, how can you expect your followers to be in control or exhibit self-discipline?
Leadership is job, not a position, and leaders have to be fit to lead. If your life is out of whack emotionally, physically, financially or relationally, it will diminish or destroy your fitness to lead. If you are an executive, your corporation will suffer. If you are a pastor, your church will be hurt. If you are a manager, your department will not perform as it needs to. To lead your organization with excellence, you need to lead yourself with excellence.
If these things are out of whack, it is your responsibility to get them on track. It is no one else’s fault or responsibility. So quit blaming everyone else and start leading yourself with purpose, passion and discipline—yes, self-discipline. Do whatever it takes to become emotionally, physically, financially and relationally healthy. Wow! Start leading yourself, and leading others will become fun again.
If I ask you—“Should a Cadillac dealer try to sell Chevrolets?”—your answer would be emphatically “NO.”
But they tried it once. Wanting to compete in the small car market, Cadillac introduced in 1981 a Chevrolet disguised as a Cadillac called a Cimarron. But even with a Cadillac emblem and a leather interior, it was still essentially a Chevrolet with a Cadillac price. It was a disaster for Cadillac from both an image and profit standpoint and was discontinued with the 1988 model. (By the way, wanting a Cadillac, but unable to afford a real one, I bought a Cimarron in 1987. It was embarrassing when I realized it was really just a Chevrolet in fancy clothes.)
I made the same mistake in business back in the 90’s. We were a Cadillac company—building large (up to 100’ length) expensive ($0.5M and up) aircraft assemblies for Lockheed, Airbus, Gulfstream, etc. Having some open capacity on some equipment, we decided to get in the Chevrolet business by going after some low value machining business to utilize some of our open capacity and make a little “incremental’ profit. It was a disaster and a hard lesson.
We learned that if you have a Cadillac customer base, and a Cadillac cost structure, don’t try to compete with Chevrolet dealers.
There are many downsides:
So, when tempted, remember:
#1 If all that matters is price—it’s a commodity. It is hard to differentiate your business in a commodity market.
#2 Customers will not pay Cadillac prices for a Chevrolet. And you can’t fool them with a Cimarron.
#3 This almost never works as a “growth” strategy.
#4 The shallow end is always more crowded for a reason. (Think about it.)
By the way, the Cimarron was pretty good Chevrolet; not a very good Cadillac.
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